Page 101 of Cup of Lies

She sighs. “I don’t think so. Right now, I want to focus on being a mom. I’m thinking I might homeschool Kaitlyn. Didn’t your mom do that for you?”

“Yeah. She baked a lot of good shit too.”

“I’ll have you know, I became quite the little baker while we were apart. That’s one of the only good things to have come from that time.” She kisses the side of my neck. “What about you? You going to become a biker now, Johnny?”

I snort out a laugh that makes Nova whimper in her sleep. “Fuck no. You know how dangerous those things are?”

“Hadley told me she and Koyn had sex once while riding on his.”

“Not happening,” I grumble. “Get that out of your head.”

She giggles and it’s a sweet fucking sound.

“I was thinking, though,” I say slowly. “Maybe still working with these guys. We got some of the big players, our dads included, but there are more out there we missed.”

We both know that just because we got the people who hurt us specifically, it doesn’t mean there’s not a whole world of people who haven’t. They just need to be found, exposed, and punished.

“What about Theo?” she asks. “Will he stick around?”

“I want him to if you want him to.”

“He’s growing on me.”

“Same.”

We both chuckle.

“Want to dump the baby on him and fuck me on the pool table?”

I bark out an unexpected laugh. “Don’t taunt me, woman.”

“Taunt? It was an invitation, Caius.”

Turning my head, I touch the tip of my nose to hers. “I thought you couldn’t.”

“Time flies when you’re fighting bad guys.” Her grin brightens her beautiful face. “I’m ready if you are. If not, we can do it another day—hey!”

I nearly send her flying to her ass in my hurry to get up. She cracks up laughing when I stalk past her, looking for someone to pawn our baby off onto. LuLu’s mom happens to be closest.

“Watch her for a second, yeah?”

“What? Uh, sure?” She awkwardly accepts Nova, face scrunched in confusion.

“They’re going to have sex, Mom,” LuLu tells her like she’s the adult between them.

Her mother’s mouth gapes open. I don’t wait for her to change her mind.

Romy is waiting by the firepit, giggling with amusement. When I reach her, I toss her over my shoulder like I’m claimingmy prize. She squeals as I smack her ass. Sunshine barks at me from somewhere but doesn’t race to save Romy.

The idea of getting to have sex with this woman today is the icing on our cake of victory.

A strange feeling courses through me.

I don’t recognize it, but I like it.

Joy.

I guess that’s my life now.

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